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East Africa: First Nordic-East Africa Trade Summit in Kampala

By William Lubuulwa

KAMPALA, Uganda, November 05, 2015 (The Monitor) — More than 200 high-level delegates from East Africa and the Nordic region are expected to attend the first ever Nordic-East Africa Trade Summit & Expo in Kampala.

The two-day event will take place from November 17 to November 18 at the Speke Resort, Munyonyo. Business leaders from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, and their counterparts from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland will be in attendance.

The summit is organised by the Nordic Business Association (NBA) in Uganda, with support from the Nordic embassies to Uganda.

NBA chairperson Rikke Adamsen, in an email to Daily Monitor, said: "The aim of this event is to create a Nordic-East Africa B2B platform that will share opportunities and knowledge for business growth in the East African market." Mr Adamsen added that the summit will be for, "Two days of interactive experience, compelling content and networking... "

Building trade contacts

The communications adviser to the Nordics in Uganda, Ms Shamilla Kara said: "The Nordic-East Africa Trade Summit and Expo is the first of its kind in East Africa and it will bring together businesspeople and entrepreneurs from both sides to discuss business opportunities and to build contacts for trade and investment."

Ms Dorothy M. Tuma, the director DMT consultants, a business consultancy, said: "EAC imports from Sweden were valued at just over $197m in 2014. This figure accounted for 37 per cent of the EAC's imports from Nordic countries. Imports from Sweden were dominated by telecom, electrical and electronic equipment, machinery, paper and paperboard.

"In the same year, Norway was the primary Nordic destination for EAC exports, accounting for 45 per cent of exports to that region. Exports, primarily flowers, were valued at just under $65m."

She advised Ugandans to also explore the potential market opportunities in those countries especially in technology and green energy models."